


As the Gear Rusts

by Goliathus_Regius



Category: Free!
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 07:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7608742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goliathus_Regius/pseuds/Goliathus_Regius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was only one possible outcome of him being left alone. If he didn't move quickly enough, he might be left alone forever. And being alone was not something Tachibana Makoto had ever liked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As the Gear Rusts

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've had sitting on my computer for nearly a year, so I thought I'd finally post it. Hope you enjoy!

For the first time in a week, he was drunk. 

Not much, he couldn’t afford that. He wouldn’t have been able skid through breakdown lanes and road medians if he were too drunk. 

Still, the bottle had been there, and he had taken it. He couldn’t help himself. And it’s not as if anyone was around to make him feel bad for it.

The bottle next to him was the second he’d found, the first now discarded on the side of the road. His hand brushed it time and time again, but he wasn’t sure. What if he got too drunk and skidded off the road entirely? He might be stuck there for a long time if his car decided to flip, and that wasn't how he wanted to die.

‘Then how do you?’ A terrible voice in his mind spoke up. ‘Alcohol overdose? It’s not the worse way to go, better than bleeding to death.’

He had been rolling suicide over in his mind, too much. 

Suppose he was wrong, that his death wouldn’t change anything? That instead of being mostly dead, the world would be entirely dead? That all life on earth would be frozen in this one moment forever?

Suppose he was wrong about that, then, and spent the rest of his life wandering aimlessly? The world would find it odd, wouldn’t they? He could see the newspaper headline, no, maybe they wouldn’t spare him that much. Just a strange little, unexplainable article. ‘Man found miles away from home, died, aged sixty years for mysterious reasons.’

He shivered at the thought, though there was no real temperature here, there never was. The air was stagnant, and almost always cold to him. But on occasion it could be muggy, and he imagined the temperature would be pleasant if he were ever to be in a pleasant mood here. 

It was cold right now. Chilly, as if the ac was blasting cold air at full capacity, though it wasn’t on at all.

The cars he passed by didn’t help his goosebumps at all. The people, frozen in the midst of conversations, laughing, arguments. Unthinking, dead, in an odd kind of way. 

‘Isn’t that what dead is? No pulse, no breathing. Everything’s dead, everything in the world is dead but me.’

He passed by a sign that announced Tokyo was near. It gave him no relief.

Haru, Haru was in Tokyo. But where? He wasn’t going to leave wherever he was, sure, but still, he could be anywhere in Tokyo. If he was there at all. Maybe he was in one of the cars he’d passed on the way, stuck in a taxi, trapped forever. 

Or whatever forever frozen in time was called.

“If only I could teleport,” he muttered to himself. If only a lot of things, though. If only he wasn’t an alcoholic, if only he didn’t have any powers at all. But no, the worst things had come together to create his reality, the horrid reality he would be stuck in until he died. 

“You’re not dead yet, dammit,” he growled. But wasn’t he? What was the chances he’d find Haru before he gave simply gave up? And what would come to the world after that, he had no idea.

He pulled the top of another bottle open with his teeth, chipping a tooth in the process. He couldn’t be brought to care, seeing as it could very well be his last drink. Or the last drink in the world, who knew?

He held it up in a drunken, mock toast at that thought. Then, he gulped it down, that old, desperate need to drink as much as he could returning worse than ever. He needed it, it was the only thing in the world that wasn’t frozen away from his in this sick fourth dimension. Frozen from him by his own power, one he couldn’t control, couldn’t stop.

He had learned about it in grade school, but he’d had no idea it would turn out to something like this. It was small at the time, still he remembered it vividly, like he remembered all the points when time stopped.

He had been at a swimming tournament, consumed by a childish yet nagging feeling that he wasn’t fast enough, that because of him the entire team would fail, and he would...

The thought had melted away, as he noticed the water stilled. It was slight, and he pushed it aside, continuing through the water without looking to anyone else. He reached the wall, and looked up, smiling for a second when he caught sight of Haru. Then, he knew something was wrong. 

His friend was relaxed, obviously not ready to jump in, gaze focused on the other end of the pool, despite Makoto having reached the end of the lap. Further, he realized after a split second, Haru wasn’t moving. If he had looked around, he would have seen no one else was either. 

His mind raced, a million possibilities running through as he stared at his friend, who was still frozen, tensed slightly, goggle still in hand. 

“Haru!” he called out, reaching up to his friend, and finally, a light flicked on in his friend. “Jump!” he said, but Haru did no such thing. He only stared at him with wide, shocked eyes. 

He turned around the see what was wrong, and he saw the other swimmers, still the entire length of the pool behind him. They hadn’t noticed whatever it was he had done, but the teacher and parents by that end of the pool were staring at him with that same, unbelieving expression.

“W-what?” Had he done something wrong? Broken the rules, somehow? Would he get his team disqualified after being the first to finish the lap?

“What was that?” someone nearby asked in a loud voice. “That’s not right...” 

And someone else, “What happened?”

Murmurs went through the parents , and glances were thrown at him, too many. 

He could feel all the gazes pressing on him. Tears crept into his eyes, he could start crying at any moment...

And then a hand was pulling him up, out of the pool.

“It’s alright,” Haru said softly, wrapping an arm around Makoto. He walked off towards the showers with Makoto, and no one made a move to stop them.

“What happened?” Makoto asked, more to himself. “Everyone was looking at me like I’d done something terrible, but I don't know...”

“You’re just special,” Haru told him, voice calm and slow. “They’ll understand it in time.”

“So.. You understand?” 

Haru nodded slowly. “I’m like you.”

Relief welled up inside Makoto. “Really?”

“Well, not quite. But I have a weaker version of your power.”

“Power?”

Haru picked up a loose towel, throwing it into the air. It froze in the middle of its arch, completely still. 

“I can freeze the time around objects. My grandma has it too. She told me you could too, that you were the only one who would understand me completely. But you didn’t know about it, so I stayed quiet.”

“That’s amazing!” Makoto said, grinning. 

Haru shrugged, letting the towel drop. “I can stop things from falling, so what?”

“No one else can, it’s like we’re superheroes!”

Haru frowned, shaking his head. “You’re the powerful one. It's exhausting, for me anyway.”

It had been so simple back then, he had been able to laugh about it. Thinking about it warmed his surroundings ever so slightly. 

No harm had been done, right? No one felt it when they were frozen, he hadn’t hurt anyone. And all he had to do to fix it was call out to Haru, anyway. The thing was, Haru had to be there for him to call out too.

His hand went unconsciously to his throat at the thought, raw and still parched. The beer hadn’t helped.

Haru couldn’t be around all the time, that’s why the world was as it was now, why his voice was gone from screaming. It was how the world worked, at some point you would get separated from your other half. He had learned that years ago, how had he been stupid enough to forget? To let that night slip from his mind in the midst of...

The air cooled more. Fights, why did it always have to be fights that set these things off? 

Dinner, it hadn’t been fine, but it had been tolerable until, one drink too many, his mother was screaming at his father. He made a move towards his siblings, but as soon as he did they froze. He glanced back at his parents, expression full of rage, an emotion that terrified him. He ran out, instinctively yelling, “Haru!” But still, no one moved. 

It was alright, of course, Haru lived right next door.

Except, it occurred to him, no, it wasn’t. Because he wasn’t next door, he was with Rin for some training or another. Makoto had told him it was alright, that it hadn’t happened it months, surely he would be fine for one night. But it wasn’t, and he should have known better. He was a terrible friend, Haru couldn’t even leave for a night without him needed him by his side. 

It couldn’t be changed, he’d have to go to Haru. But he couldn’t drive in normal circumstances, and especially not when the roads were blocked by cars.   
Biking, then.

It took him a few days, or at least what would have been a few days, to reach Rin’s school. He didn’t dare to stop to rest more than absolutely necessary. The time was thanks, in part, to more than a few detours and breaks. When he finally made it to the school he was quick to abandon his bike, not noticing where it fell as he ran off despite his exhaustion. 

He knew where the dorm was, more or less. He opened the door, never stopping to think how lucky he was it was unlocked. 

“Haru!” he cried a final time. Sweaty, tired and filthy, he threw himself on his friend all the same. “I-” Rin froze up, staring at Makoto. “W-what the hell?!”

Haru wasn’t as surprised, perhaps thrown off for a moment. But after that moment passed, Makoto started sobbing into his shirt, and he wrapped his arms around him. 

“Shh, it’s alright now,” he whispered, then looked up at Rin. “You don’t mind if he spends the night, do you?”

Rin had recovered, though he still glanced between Makoto and Haru. 

“Just as soon as you explain what’s going on.”

Haru shrugged. “Time stuff.”

Rin rolled his eyes, sighing. “Yeah, I know, but... Oh, nevermind, I guess I can’t expect a better answer from you. Fine then, but I still get my bed, one of you is sleeping on the floor.”

Haru nodded, before looking at Makoto. 

“I-I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “I’m useless, I can’t even...”

“It’s fine,” Haru assured him. “I don’t mind it, okay?” Then, softer, he said, “I love you.”

Rin stood up. “Well alright, I’m going for a walk. You two better be done with this when I get back.”

Haru shot him a glare, but Makoto didn’t notice the exchange at all.

“I’m sorry, I interrupted your-”

“Don’t, you’re better company than him any day.” Haru smiled faintly. “Come on, let’s get you showered. You can do that, right?”

Makoto nodded, standing up slowly. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

They spent the night close in the twin-sized bunk bed, but even the warm contact couldn’t drive the bitter feeling out of Makoto’s chest.

‘You’re like a puppy,’ the nagging feeling told him. ‘A clumsy dog that stumbles over its own paws and needs its owner to take it to the papers or else they have a mess to clean up. But you’re not cute, and the both of you know you’ll never grow out of this.’

No, he wasn’t inconveniencing Haru, right? 

Still, Hair never spent a night away from his for the rest of high school. And the years following that, up until last week.

He winced simply thinking about it, how he had, like his mother, taken it one drink too far. Or perhaps one drink was too far, he couldn’t really think straight. But he didn’t have to think hard to remember distinctly how he’d... He’d hurt Haru, he couldn’t remember it much anymore but still, thinking about it made him want to cry. He’d been mad over some stupid, little thing and he’d hit him, hard. Time had frozen in brief pauses as Haru stepped back, and it was all Makoto could do to run off, hide away in their room. When he finally came out, Haru was gone. 

It was natural, right? They hadn’t ever argued, any couple could expect some kind of argument, sooner or later. They were no exception. But they needed to be an exception, he had needed to be the exception, and he hadn’t.

A breeze went through the car, and he was shivering violently now. He needed to stop thinking about this before he froze, but he couldn’t help himself. It had been in his mind all week, the first week in so many years he had been alone. 

For an entire week he had somehow lasted, Haru never answering any of his calls or texts. He understood it, or at least he tried to. Haru simply needed time. It couldn’t only be the Makoto’s strike at him... Right?

Still, that bitter voice tried to speak up, say that Haru hated him. 

He hadn’t given it chance to speak the past week, he had thrown out every last drink in the house. But now it was back, stronger than ever.

He couldn’t help himself from needing some, any comfort. Not when he stared out their back porch, and saw the ocean, still as death, staring back at him. Not when the horror dawned on him that it was back, that everything, even the eternal ocean, was frozen where it had stood.

Because of him.

So here he was, driving blindly to Tokyo. But what then? Could he really hope to find Haru in such a huge city? He could be anywhere.

And even if he did, would he take Makoto back? 

Questions, terrible questions that made him want to scream. A few more gulps of his drunk, and it was gone. That terrified him more than anything else, but most of him was too numb to bother.

The drinking... When had that started? His first day of college, at a part, he remembered. Mainly, he recalled the brief lag in time as he grabbed the bottle. In the end, he had drank it, far away enough from his mother to forget about her terrible moods. She, his mother, was as kind as he was when she was sober. He should have taken that as a warning. But he hadn’t. At first it had been alright, he supposed. 

It had been normal, under control then. It slowly built up from there, finally exploding when it made him think, if only for a moment, it was alright to hurt someone.   
His car skidded, and his heart was racing before he got it under control again.

No, he shouldn’t have drank. Not only was he drunk, but he was suddenly exhausted. Time might not be working for anyone else, but it was working twice as fast for him.

He needed some kind of destination, he’d wear himself out quickly simply wandering around.

Rin’s apartment came to his mind first. It wasn’t too far, he had been there a few times before, and if he was to bet on Haru being anywhere, it was there.

He got to a point where the traffic was impassable, and he stopped the car. No point in going on now. If he got out in this state, he’d collapse in the street. He climbed into the back seat, and knew nothing for what should have been the next four hours. 

He was winding his way through the Tokyo traffic, preferring the street over the sidewalk. He could ignore looking at the windows more easily than pedestrians.  
As he glanced around the street, he knew he’d most likely be looking for far too long.

At least, then, he could tell whoever was in the afterlife that he had tried. 

“Haru,” he whispered. “Haru, I need you.”

Tokyo was freezing now, and he knew no amount of clothing would help. He tried to warm it up with better thoughts, better times. His mind wandered back through the vivid memories. 

Swimming tournaments, him cheering his lover on.

The first time they had kissed. The first time the countless other ones... The first time they’d made love.

That was particularly defined in his mind, his nervousness, that pause that lasted only a moment. Haru smiled at him, the only person who always spotted the moments. 

“No need to be scared, you can’t mess up.”

Haru was wrong, he could, and did, but neither of them minded at all. He smiled faintly at the memory.

‘Haru...’

He tripped over a cat, crying out softly as he did. He glanced at it, before he took off, sprinting full speed from his crime. 

He tried in vain to calm down, to cool this instinct that was telling him to flee. 

“Haru!” he screamed, at the start of these feelings all over again. 

Where was Rin’s apartment, anyway? He couldn’t remember anymore. All the streets looked the same now. 

(Hello ma’am, have you seen a black-haired man, maybe a few inches short of six-feet? What? Be more specific? No, you’re frozen in time, you can’t respond, I’m sorry I think I’m-)

“Going mad,” he muttered. It was fair, he supposed. He had hurt Haru, this was his punishment.

The temperature was rising fast, soon to be boiling hot. And of course, here, he was the only thing to boil.

He walked for hours, the heat an encouragement not to stop.

He tried to calm down, but the air didn’t cool. At least the heats increase was slowed, but he knew at some point it would kill him. Looked like he didn’t have to worry about being stuck here forever after all.

He took a deep breath, all his exhaustion rushing into him with that breath.

But if he stopped, he might burn to death in his sleep.

After some time, he tripped again. He didn’t bother to check what, only stood up slowly, grabbing onto a car's hood. This was pathetic, what could he hope to do? He was the last person, sure, but that didn’t make him anything more than one person. And one person couldn’t possibly handle this for years...

He scanned the area slowly, going numb and falling back when his gaze landed on one man, sticking out in the sparse crowd. 

“Haru!” It came out without a moment's hesitation, and he reached out, stepping forward. 

A light flickered on in his eyes, and relief flooded him. It was alright, time was working again, Haru would forgive him and he would never touch alcohol again.  
Time was working again, the screeching of tires next to him told him that. Too fast, it was going too fast, he thought as he tried to move. But his limbs were too slow to avoid it, and too weak to avoid being crushed in the impact.

He tried Haru’s name again, but it wasn’t necessary. Haru had seen him, and Makoto caught a glimpse of his wide eyes, full of life, and it assured him everything was as it should be now. 

The ocean he had left behind, it occurred to him, was moving again. The thought brought him a strange peace. 

Haru ran toward him, and Makoto smiled at him. It was weak, but better than nothing.

“It’s alright now,” he told Haru when he kneeled next to him on the road. “The ocean’s working again, you should go see it.”

Then there was a hand, a firm grip on his arm, and at it he knew it was alright to give up now. He could bear leaving if he had such a comforting person to bid him farewell.

“I’m fine,” he heard himself utter, far away. Of course, it was a lie.

**Author's Note:**

> After going through this, I thought I might make it into a full, longer series, or possibly combine this idea with another fanfic I've had sitting on my computer for a long time. Leave a comment if you'd be interested in seeing that, and possibly which direction you'd want this to be taken.


End file.
